The price of stainless steel flat products was unchanged in Europe this week - participants expect this stability to remain in place until at least the first week of January, during which time the market will be largely shut for the holiday season, they told Fastmarkets on Friday December 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 304, transaction dom...Read More
The prices of austenitic grades of stainless steel scrap were largely unchanged this week - participants noted that any increase in the cost of nickel will be balanced out by the stronger pound against the dollar, they told Fastmarkets on Friday December 20.Fastmarkets' assessment of the stainless steel scrap 316 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK price was ?1,120-1,180 ($1,463-1,541) per t...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in Asia are showing mixed signs in the lead up to the year-end vacation period of Christmas and New Year. Taiwanese buyers have eased purchases amid expectations of more stable prices in the near term once sellers in the United States stop business activities. However, Vietnamese buyers have been paying higher for purchases of both Japanese and American scrap. Vietnam Fastm...Read More
Most copper scrap discounts in the United States increased as the Comex copper price continued to strengthen week on week. Fastmarkets assessed the copper scrap No1 copper (also known as brass mills' bare bright), discount, buying price, delivered to brass mill US, at 12-14 cents per lb on Wednesday December 18, increasing from 11-13 cents per lb the week before.Also registering 1-cent gains were...Read More
Base metals prices other than lead closed higher on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday December 19, bolstered by an injection of liquidity into China's open markets, while a weaker US dollar index also proved supportive.Three-month prices trading mixed this morning but ultimately gathered upward momentum after the People's Bank of China (PBoC) injected 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) into financ...Read More
All Fastmarkets prices and premiums due to be published at 4pm London time on Thursday December 19 were delayed due to a technical error. The prices were published six minutes late; the Fastmarkets pricing database, MInD, for all prices has now been updated. The prices affected by the delay include: Aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam, $/tonne Alumina index, fob Australia, $/tonne ...Read More
All Fastmarkets prices and premiums due to be published at 4pm London time on Thursday December 19 were delayed due to a technical error. The prices were published six minutes late; the Fastmarkets pricing database, MInD, for all prices has now been updated. The prices affected by the delay include: Aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam, $/tonne Alumina index, fob Australia, $/tonne ...Read More
The Chinese ferro-silicon market has been steady over the past week amid firm quotations from producers.Fastmarkets' price assessment for ferro-silicon 75% Si min, in-whs China was 5,900-6,000 yuan ($843-857) per tonne on Wednesday December 18, unchanged for the second straight week. Market participants told Fastmarkets some ferro-silicon production in northwestern China is likely t...Read More
Most copper scrap discounts in the United States increased as the Comex copper price continued to strengthen week on week. Fastmarkets assessed the copper scrap No1 copper (also known as brass mills' bare bright), discount, buying price, delivered to brass mill US, at 12-14 cents per lb on Wednesday December 18, increasing from 11-13 cents per lb the week before.Also registering 1-cent gains were...Read More
Turkish steel mills have continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap markets on Thursday December 19 and are focusing on finished steel sales, participants told Fastmarkets.Mills in the country went quiet earlier this week after booking two deep-sea cargoes at steady prices of $299-300 per tonne cfr for Baltic Sea-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20).The offers for deep-sea scrap then increased to $305-310 p...Read More
What's in store for the steel and scrap markets in 2020? There is a good mix of opportunities and threats in the global ferrous trading environment in 2020, according to five major traders with supply chains out to the far reaches of the world. China's volatile policy changes, blooming markets in South Asia, a global trade war and excess steel supply will continue to have significant sway over the...Read More
Steel demand in North Africa is projected to grow by around 3% in the coming year to 23.5 million tonnes, delegates were told at Fastmarkets' Middle East Iron & Steel Conference in Dubai on December 9-11.Ramy Saleh, the chief business development officer at Egypt's El Marakby Steel cited gross domestic product and population growth as the main drivers of steel demand in the region, which, accordin...Read More
The European steel industry has welcomed the European Commission's recently launched European Green Deal although further policy and support are required to ensure competitiveness.The European Union plans to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through key policies to cut emissions and invest in research and innovation for green technologies. The decarbonization and modernization of ener...Read More
Some overseas buyers have raised their bid prices for hot-rolled coil from China amid tighter global supply, although domestic Chinese prices were stable on Thursday December 19.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,870-3,880 yuan ($552-554) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,640 yuan per tonne, unchangedTrading nationwide was moderate on Thursday, which kept prices stable.A...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday December 19 that are worth another look.What's in store for the steel and scrap markets in 2020?Most copper scrap discounts in the United States increased as the Comex copper price continued to strengthen week on week.Spot market prices for alloy-grade and standard-grade cobalt diverged in the first half of the week.Two weeks o...Read More
Brazilian apparent steel consumption dropped by 2.1% year on year in November, as an increase in long-steel demand was not enough to offset a quick decline reported for flat-rolled products, national steelmakers' association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday December 19.Steel consumption totaled 1.72 million tonnes during November, down from 1.76 million tonnes a year before.Flat-steel use wa...Read More
Prices for steel reinforcing bar in the United States ticked up following increase announcements from several domestic mills, and sources expect that uptrend will continue next year if ferrous scrap values move up as anticipated in the January 2020 trade.Fastmarkets assessed the price for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US at $29.50-30.50 per hundredweight ($590-610 per short ton) on...Read More
Turkish steel mills have continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap markets on Thursday December 19 and are focusing on finished steel sales, participants told Fastmarkets.Mills in the country went quiet earlier this week after booking two deep-sea cargoes at steady prices of $299-300 per tonne cfr for Baltic Sea-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20).The offers for deep-sea scrap then increased to $305-310 p...Read More
The European steel industry has welcomed the European Commission's recently launched European Green Deal although further policy and support are required to ensure competitiveness.The European Union plans to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through key policies to cut emissions and invest in research and innovation for green technologies. The decarbonization and modernization of ener...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices experienced a slight uptick on Thursday December 19 amid ferrous futures gains in China.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.77 per tonne, up $0.57 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.86 per tonne, up $0.57 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.66 per tonne, up $0.54 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-premium, cfr Qingdao: $...Read More